It seems that the people of Taiwan are indeed worried about TSMC’s investments in the US, as they believe that it has already laid the foundation for a “US-SMC.”
TSMC’s Inclination Towards the US Is Apparently Bothering Taiwan, But The Core Technology Still Remains In the Nation
The idea of TSMC becoming an American Foundry has been emerging in the media ever since the Taiwan chip giant invested ‘hundreds of billions’ in the US under the influence of the Trump administration. Things did take a turn when it was rumored that the USG is considering getting a stake in TSMC, and the Taiwan media saw this potential move as TSMC moving away from their home-grounds. Now, according to a new report, it is revealed that 50% of the Taiwanese public involved in a poll are concerned about TSMC becoming a US-focused foundry, according to UDN.
A poll conducted by this newspaper shows that 50% of the public is concerned about TSMC becoming “TSMC of the United States.” Scholars and experts point out that this “TSMC of the United States” may already be a reality. Even if it isn’t, the US’s strategic deployment towards TSMC has already posed challenges to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.
– UDN (Automated Translation)
Interestingly, one of the professors at Taiwan’s top political science school, National Chengchi University, believes that the Trump administration wants TSMC to produce cutting-edge nodes and advanced packaging in the US. He claims that without the chip giant, Taiwan’s importance to the US would dramatically reduce, since TSMC is a key asset for the nation under foreign influence. There are geopolitical concerns around TSMC and the evolving situation between Taiwan-China, but the shift to US from the chip giant has much bigger aspirations.
TSMC’s ‘top-rated’ clients include the likes of NVIDIA, Apple, Broadcom, and AMD, which are mostly American companies sourcing cutting-edge nodes in the market. And, since the Trump administration has made it a priority to bring manufacturing back to the US, he has undoubtedly used trade as a mean of leverage, which means Big Tech needs to invest a lot to ensure support from the government, as well as avoid huge tariffs coming their way. The Taiwan giant is a part of the ‘shift’ from the East to the West, which means that TSMC’s US operations are a necessity.
More importantly, Taiwan still retains the core of TSMC’s business, which is R&D around cutting-edge nodes. Most of the firm’s top talent also comes from Taiwan, which means that the firm’s ‘recipes’ are made in the nation rather than the US. And more importantly, high-end nodes like the N2 are always produced in Taiwan fabs rather than offshore facilities, which means that TSMC is eager to retain core technology in its homeground, but there’s no doubt that the firm has heavily diversified in recent times, inclined towards the US.